HEADBAND DISPLAY

My daughter has a collection of headbands.

My daughter is not neat.

So. . . in an effort to help her be more organized, I headed off to the local hardware store to get the supplies for a new invention.

I love the hardware store!

 After about 40 minutes of looking around, because you never know what you might find, I had my supplies in hand.

SUPPLIES

Flexible Aluminum Tubing (6 inches wide by 8 ft long)

Two 6 inch aluminum caps

 Then I went home and got to work.

 Push the tubing onto the caps.  If the tube does not fit, push the tabs you cut on your caps closer together - this will help the tube slide on easier.

TA DA!

 My daughter loves it!

Will it help her be organized?

My fingers are crossed!

YOU ARE AMAZING!

It's true.


And I think National Compliment Day should be more than once a year!

FEEL GOOD CARDS

I was looking at Design Sponge this morning, and I came across this photo.  

I don't know why, but it made me sad.  Maybe it's because my daughter is doing fractions at school, but right away I noticed the math.

This was not a comforting percentage. 

I want happy events to far outweigh the sad, so I took the picture into photoshop and fixed it.  I'm much happier now.

What kind of cards would you send?

WEBSITE

I have been working on my website for 5 months now.  It's one of those things that I thought would be faster, but obviously it's not.
Here is the latest.  
I'm using these old metal letters as the menu buttons.
It's fun, time consuming, and hopefully worth it!

Oh, I'm still writing and illustrating too!  
And making lunches, and doing laundry, and running to the post office.
I guess that's why everything takes so long.

WISH GIRL

Sometimes I get interesting ideas when I am pushed into a corner.
Last month I got some friends together for a holiday lunch.
The corner?  
Bring one homemade gift not costing over $10.00 to make.


This seemed like a great idea, but the day before the lunch I was panicked.
I ran around the house looking for ideas.
I found
- a piece of painted cardboard I had used for another project.
- a  little glass vial from Etsy.
- a sewed doll form from my daughter's birthday party 2 years ago.  
(It was a decorate your own doll party)


Here's what I ended up with.  I hope she has secret powers to make wishes come true!

And the bonus?  Our holly tree which has been on the verge of dying for the last three years, was this year happily full of berries and pointy leaves.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

UPPERCASE MAGAZINE

GET YOUR OWN COPY HERE

PINTEREST

Do you already know about this?

Probably, I'm not on the cutting edge of technology.  
It's a site for visual scrapbooks - right up my alley. 
Here is the link to my little piece of Pinterest.  I'm new to the whole thing, so if you have any tips, please do share.  Plus I'd love any suggestions of who to follow.
Charise's Pinterest Page

HENRY'S HEART - LOVE AND OTHER STUFF

I've been busy over the last couple of months, so the posting thing has not been easy - to be honest I've let it slip.  So, I'm going to catch up this month, with a few things I should have talked about last month.  It's not old news, it's good news, so I think it's worthwhile. 

First up Henry's Heart!

This is my newest book, and I'm really excited about it because . . . I worked on it with an entire elementary school.  I went to the school once a week for three months, and spent time with each and every student in the school - all 300+ of them.  It was an amazing opportunity for me, and if you want to read more about it here are some links to press articles about the experience.
Article One:  The Loop
Still want to know more?
Article Two:  LoHud

I'm a lucky author.  I truly love all the publishers I work with, and here's an example of why.  When I asked Christy Ottaviano - my publisher at Holt if I could put every child's name on the dedication page she said, "OK, Let's do it!"  
     
This was my surprise for the kids. They were dedicated, helpful, engaged and creative, and they stuck with me for three whole months.  Every Monday they had to stop what they were doing, line up, visit with me, line up again, and then go back to their classrooms to continue their studies.  Transitions like this are not easy - I know, I have a seven year old.  On top of that they waited for almost TWO years to hold the published book in their hands.  That's a long time in dog years - and I suspect it feels even longer in kid years.

I wanted them to have ownership of the book, and to know that no matter where they saw it - New York, Chicago, or Seattle their name was always going to be there, right on the first page. 

Here's a shot of the dedication page.

I could go on and on about the contributions the kids made to this book,  here are just a few.

It's hard to know what to say in conclusion.  The entire experience was overwhelming, wonderful, surprising, taxing, and rewarding beyond words. Perhaps an image says it best.

ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT

Do you know this book?  

It has always been one of my favorites.  It's funny, smart, and unexpected in so many good ways.  I love Arnie!  
And even before I knew her, I loved Laurie Keller.  
I was a fan!


A few years ago we were introduced.  I was nervous to meet her, but right away we hit it off, and we have been super friends ever since.  So now I know a famous author - YAY!  Lucky me!


Recently Laurie had a birthday, and I got excited - I always like a reason to put my crafty hands to work.  I thought about Laurie, and said to myself, "What can I make her that no one else is going to give her?"  
Answer?
An Arnie Doll with interchangeable eyes!
At first I was worried that she might already have one, but she assured me that no, mine was the first.

Here's a closer look. 

Arnie has his Happy eyes on.

Here is Arnie's little bag of eyes. 

Now for some other Arnie looks.

Arnie lives on Laurie's shelf.  He's got a new friend.  

What do you think?

HAPPY 2012!

 From My House To Yours!